Electronic documents are typically designed to be constrained by external factors, such as the size of the paper on which the document will be printed. Conventional document editors, such as word processing application programs typically provide a user with tools to edit documents by adding, modifying, and deleting text and other document objects (e.g., pictures). The editing of a conventional electronic document is usually constrained by external factors, such as the document size. The document size may be determined by the size of the printer paper on which the user intends to print the document. These constraints typically result in a corresponding document “behavior.” For example, if a user adds a document object that overlaps a right margin of the document that represents one edge of the printer paper (i.e., a document boundary), then the word processor application will typically move that object to the left margin, further down on the page. If an object is added that overlaps a bottom margin, then the word processor will typically move the object to the next page. Moving a document object to accommodate the page boundaries is typically referred to as “wrapping.”
More recently, free-form document editors have been developed. Free-form document editors can exhibit novel document behavior in part by being responsive to fewer external constraints. Free-form document editors may not have many of the boundary constraints that can be found in conventional word processing application programs. Accordingly, a free-form document editor may have a different document behavior than a typical word processor document editor.
Free-form document editors have been designed to limit the constraints on an electronic document, so that a user may create free-form documents. This is considered to be a very valuable to enabling a user to engage in free-form note taking. It has been determined that some document constraints can lead to a reduction in a user's ability to take notes efficiently and effectively using a conventional document editor. A free-form document editor operates to eliminate some document constraints by enabling free-form note taking.
Note-taking on a free-form document editor can be enhanced by the use of certain hardware devices. For example, an electronic tablet can be used to record handwriting and input the handwriting to a convention computer. Such electronic tablets typically comprise a screen and a handheld device that is similar to a pen (also referred to as a stylus). A user can use the pen to write on the electronic tablet in a manner similar to the use of traditional pen and paper. The electronic tablet can “read” the strokes of the user's handwriting with the handheld device and render the handwriting in electronic form on the tablet's screen and/or the computer's display as “electronic ink”.
The reduction of the influence of external constraints has triggered a need for space management in free-form document editors. In conventional document editors, page boundaries were constrained in most or all directions (i.e., top, bottom, left, and right). With an exemplary free-form document editor, however, page boundaries must be expandable. Therefore, there is a need for a space management tool that enables expansion of the boundaries or margins of a page to enable the addition or expansion of one or more document objects. The tool also should enable the contraction of the boundaries of a page to reduce the available space on the page.